iPhone变慢苹果道歉：换电池服务降到29美元

（原标题：Apple apologizes for slowing down iPhones, offers $29 battery replacements until December 2018）

网易科技讯12月29日消息，据VentureBeat报道，苹果上周承认，基于电池的性能，iPhone的速度确实在放缓。在遭到多起诉讼和外国政府的调查之后，苹果今天发布了道歉信，并宣布了补救措施。

在公开信中，苹果写道：“关于我们如何处理使用旧电池的iPhone性能，我们始终在听取客户的反馈意见。我们知道，有些人觉得苹果让你们感到失望了，我们为此感到抱歉。关于这个问题有很多误解，所以我们想澄清一下，让你知道我们正在做的一些改变。首先，我们从来没有（也永远不会）做任何事情来故意缩短任何苹果产品的寿命，或者降低用户体验来驱动客户升级。我们的目标始终是创造客户喜爱的产品，而让iPhone尽可能长时间的持续使用是其中一个重要部分。”

苹果还宣布，从2018年1月下旬开始到2018年12月末，苹果将为iPhone 6及其以后推出的手机提供29美元的电池替换服务，这是一项不保修电池更换打折服务，正常价格为79美元。苹果还将在“2018年初”发布iOS更新，以提供额外的电池健康细节，包括电池不再支持峰值处理器性能的通知。

据了解，苹果在中国内地保外换电池的价格为608元，目前还不清楚老款iPhone会降到多少。（按照美国的折扣比例，大约223元左右。）

Primate Labs的Geekbench提供的基准测试发现了最初的问题，并指出苹果设备减速的幅度可能很大：在Geekbench测试中，苹果设备能获得2500分，而在使用一两年之后，它的得分可能只有1000分或1500分。苹果此前曾表示，在要求使用峰值处理器性能的边缘用例中，手机性能只会受到轻微影响，但许多民事诉讼和刑事调查显示，苹果的行为构成了“故意计划报废”。（小小）

附：苹果声明全文：

我们知道有些人觉得苹果公司让你们失望了，对此我们表示抱歉。此事有很多误解，因此我们乐于澄清，让你们了解我们正在作出的一些改变。首先要说的是，我们从来都没有――未来也永远不会――做任何事情来故意缩短任何苹果产品的寿命，也不会降低用户体验以推动其升级换代。我们的目标一直都是创造出用户喜爱的产品，而让iPhone尽可能耐用则是其中的重要内容。

我们听到了很多来自消费者的反馈，都是有关我们是如何处理电池老化的iPhone的性能表现的，由此给消费者带来的困扰我们表示道歉。对于此次事件，我们的消费者存在诸多误解，所以我们想告诉消费者我们的解决方案。

电池是如何老化的

所有充电电池都是消耗性组件，在化学老化过程中，效率会不断降低，充电能力也会减弱。充电时间与充电次数会影响化学老化过程，但它们并非唯一的因素。

在电池的生命周期内，设备使用也会影响电池的性能。例如，如果将电池放在较热的环境中，或者在较热的环境中充电，电池的老化速度会加快。放眼整个产业，这些电池化学特性在锂离子电池中都是普遍存在的。

在化学老化过程中，电池达到峰值能量负载的能力会削弱，在低电量状态下更明显，某些情况下设备甚至会意外关机。

为了帮助客户进一步了解iPhone充电电池，了解影响电池性能的因素，我们发布一篇文章《了解iPhone性能及其与电池的关系》解释此问题。

我们认为，如果设备出乎意料突然关机，显然是不可接受的。我们不希望用户错过来电，或者拍照时被中断，不希望其它iPhone体验受到干扰，我们尽可能避免出现这样的事情。

防止意外关机

在一年前的iOS 10.2.1中，我们推送了一个软件更新，以提升在负载达到高峰时的电源管理，避免iPhone 6、iPhone 6 Plus、iPhone 6s、iPhone 6s Plus以及iPhone SE的意外关机情况。通过这次更新，iOS可以在需要避免关机的情况下，动态管理某些系统组件的最高运行性能。然而这些变化可能并没有告知用户，在一些情形下，用户可能会发现应用打开时间长等性能下降现象。

消费者对于iOS 10.2.1的回应是正面的，因为这次更新的系统成功降低了意外关机的发生次数。我们近期将同类更新扩展至搭载iOS 11.2的iPhone 7、iPhone 7 Plus。

当然，将化学老化的电池更换成新电池，iPhone的性能将在标准条件操作下恢复正常。

近期用户反馈

今年秋季，我们收到了一些用户的反馈，这些用户称在特定情况下，他们的设备运行变慢。基于我们的经验，我们一开始认为这是出于两种因素：1。 在iPhone安装或升级应用时升级操作系统，会出现暂时的性能冲击，这是正常现象；2。设备系统中还有早先公布的缺陷，这些缺陷在后来已经被修复。

我们现在相信，设备运行变慢还有一种因素，就是旧款iPhone 6/6s设备电池中化学物品持续的老化现象，这些旧款iPhone 6/6s多数还是使用原厂电池。

回应消费者的担忧

我们一直以来希望我们的消费者能尽可能长期的使用各款iPhone设备。我们对苹果产品的耐久性及相对于竞品更好地保值性感到骄傲。

为了回应我们消费者的担忧，认识到消费者对我们的忠诚，并重获对苹果原先意图持有怀疑态度的人的信任，我们决定将采取以下措施：

- 苹果将降低超过保修期限的iPhone中的电池更换价格，从原来的79美元降至29美元。此项措施针对需要更换电池的iPhone 6及其后代iPhone设备用户，期限是2018年1月下旬至2018年12月。具体细节请见苹果官方网站apple.com。

- 2018年早些时候，我们将推送iOS软件更新，更新特性包括让用户更多了解其iPhone设备电池的健康程度，以了解电池状态是否对设备性能有不利影响。

- 我们的团队将一如继往的致力于研究多种措施，让我们用户的体验变得更好，包括提升管理性能的方式，以及避免因电池老化而出现的意外关机现象。

在苹果，用户的信任对我们来说意味着一切。为了获得并维护这种信任，我们的努力永不停歇。我们能够为了我们所爱的事业而奋斗，只因您的忠诚与支持――我们永不会忘记这一点，也不会视之为理所当然。

附：苹果公司声明英文原文：

A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

We've been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process. We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize. There's been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue, so we would like to clarify and let you know about some changes we're making.

First and foremost, we have never ― and would never ― do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades. Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.

How batteries age

All rechargeable batteries are consumable components that become less effective as they chemically age and their ability to hold a charge diminishes. Time and the number of times a battery has been charged are not the only factors in this chemical aging process.

Device use also affects the performance of a battery over its lifespan. For example, leaving or charging a battery in a hot environment can cause a battery to age faster. These are characteristics of battery chemistry, common to lithium-ion batteries across the industry.

A chemically aged battery also becomes less capable of delivering peak energy loads, especially in a low state of charge, which may result in a device unexpectedly shutting itself down in some situations.

To help customers learn more about iPhone's rechargeable battery and the factors affecting its performance, we've posted a new support article, iPhone Battery and Performance.

It should go without saying that we think sudden, unexpected shutdowns are unacceptable. We don't want any of our users to lose a call, miss taking a picture or have any other part of their iPhone experience interrupted if we can avoid it.

Preventing unexpected shutdowns

About a year ago in iOS 10.2.1, we delivered a software update that improves power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE. With the update, iOS dynamically manages the maximum performance of some system components when needed to prevent a shutdown. While these changes may go unnoticed, in some cases users may experience longer launch times for apps and other reductions in performance.

Customer response to iOS 10.2.1 was positive, as it successfully reduced the occurrence of unexpected shutdowns. We recently extended the same support for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in iOS 11.2.

Of course, when a chemically aged battery is replaced with a new one, iPhone performance returns to normal when operated in standard conditions.

Recent user feedback

Over the course of this fall, we began to receive feedback from some users who were seeing slower performance in certain situations. Based on our experience, we initially thought this was due to a combination of two factors: a normal, temporary performance impact when upgrading the operating system as iPhone installs new software and updates apps, and minor bugs in the initial release which have since been fixed.

We now believe that another contributor to these user experiences is the continued chemical aging of the batteries in older iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s devices, many of which are still running on their original batteries.

Addressing customer concerns

We've always wanted our customers to be able to use their iPhones as long as possible. We're proud that Apple products are known for their durability, and for holding their value longer than our competitors' devices.

To address our customers' concerns, to recognize their loyalty and to regain the trust of anyone who may have doubted Apple's intentions, we've decided to take the following steps:

Apple is reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50 ― from $79 to $29 ― for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced, starting in late January and available worldwide through December 2018. Details will be provided soon on apple.com.

Early in 2018, we will issue an iOS software update with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone's battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance.

As always, our team is working on ways to make the user experience even better, including improving how we manage performance and avoid unexpected shutdowns as batteries age.

At Apple, our customers' trust means everything to us. We will never stop working to earn and maintain it. We are able to do the work we love only because of your faith and support ― and we will never forget that or take it for granted.